Montgomery, who was now commanding the British Eighth Army Group for a landing operation, was wearing a black beret to cover his thinning hair; Sitting in his command car, he watched as a group of heavily armed soldiers were heading towards the interior of Sicily. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Due to the coastal defense units of the Italian army, there was no warlike mentality with the native Sicilians; Coupled with their fragile combat effectiveness, when Montgomery's British Eighth Army Group began to land south of Syracuse, these Italian coastal defense forces quickly gave up resistance, or even fled, or surrendered, so that Montgomery's troops easily occupied a lot of beachheads.

And also into the interior of Sicily, advancing almost 100 miles.

And on the way of Montgomery's troops, there were many Sicilians who were happily waving the homemade American flag in their hands and shouting excitedly: "Long live King George, long live Britain, long live the American army!" And so on.

For the warm welcome of these Sicilians, both Montgomery and the soldiers of the Eighth Army Group were excited and happy with smiles on their faces.

Sicily has two railways around the island and two railways in the northwest and southeast of the island, as well as roads crisscrossing the island, and the traffic is relatively convenient.

There are also Syracuse, Augusta, Catania on the east coast and Gera on the west coast, as well as the capitals of Palermo and Messina.

There are 10 airports and 4 seaplane airports on the island.

After a round of large-scale bombing by the British and American air forces, several of these airfields were still bombed with thick black smoke and blazing fire, and most of the German planes parked in the airfields were also blown up and destroyed.

However, these destroyed planes were old BF109 fighters and FW190 fighters that the Germans specially let the British and American aviation units bomb according to the battle method arranged by Guderian and Chen Yanlong in advance; It's not the Me262 jet, or the Ta152.

And at the time when the Anglo-American air forces and the fleet were fighting with the German anti-aircraft fire and fighter groups; Montgomery also commanded his troops quickly to complete the landing operation.

Montgomery's bravest 13th Army and 30th Army, and not much actual combat experience; However, the brave Canadian 1st Division, which assisted more than 2,000 paratroopers of the British 1st Airborne Brigade, which had successfully landed in the airborne assault on Catania.

and also to advance troops into areas such as Mount Etna.

But Montgomery's first operational mission was to command his troops to land and occupy the area from Syracuse to Pachino in southeastern Sicily, and then to advance to Messina, the capital of Sicily, and Palermo, and to occupy and liberate them.

Because the nature of Montgomery's combat mission coincided with the strategic intention of the Sicily landing campaign decided at the Casablanca Conference by the British-American-American-British Joint Chiefs of Staff and other high-level officials.

The decision of the British and American leaders was to force Italy to withdraw from the war by sending airborne troops and landing troops to land on the south coast of Sicily, and then attacking northward, seizing all of Sicily, and bombing all major Italian cities at the same time.

"Commander! Just received the battle situation from General Patton's side, they are now fighting the German SS, and the battle seems to be getting more and more intense, should we send troops over to support? ”

While Montgomery was sitting in his command car, and Heng was greeted and cheered by the Sicilians, an operations staff officer hurriedly ran to his command car and asked anxiously.

"No, you don't! Our goal now is the area from Syracuse to Pachino, and once we have captured these two places, we will be able to reach Messina much faster than Patton's Group 7 and liberate it! ”

Montgomery smiled and waved his hand with a smile.

"Ahh But what if General Patton's troops couldn't hold off those German troops? ”

The combat staff officer was a little worried.

"Hey! No, I'm sure Patton's battle maniac won't be defeated by those Germans like this! And according to our reliable information, there are only two German mechanics in the whole of Sicily, and there are only more than 40,000 people in total! And we are now an army of hundreds of thousands, what are we afraid of them? ”

"And those Italian troops, who seem to be numerous, are simply soft-footed crabs, vulnerable to a blow, and scattered at the first strike; Don't you see that the Italians all over Sicily are welcoming us? This is what people want! Hitler's guy is simply a heinous crime, and everyone hates it! ”

"In short, the final winner of this Sicilian battle is ours, which means that we don't have to worry too much about Patton's troops at all, if we really want to support, then we must first have the orders of Admiral Cunningham, Deputy Commander Alexander, and Commander Eisenhower!"

"Of course, our Prime Minister Churchill, or Her Majesty's Majesty the Queen of England, I will obey it immediately; But if it's just General Patton's personal request for help, I'm afraid I'll have to think twice, because we still have a very important combat mission to complete! ”

Montgomery retorted with a gloomy face to the other party's concern.

"Yes! Commander! ”

Seeing this, the combat staff officer also closed his mouth very wisely and quickly replied respectfully.

In fact, he originally wanted to say that Patton's troops were now engaged in fierce battles with the new German troops, and it seemed that Hitler's most elite SS troops had come, but it was not known how many troops this SS army suddenly appeared.

"By the way, do you know that the German troops now stationed in Syracuse are the same as the Pan? Is it Herman? Goering, or the 15th Panzer Division? ”

After seeing that the other party finally spoke respectfully to him, Montgomery interjected the topic with satisfaction.

"Hermann of the German army? The Göring Panzer Division and the 1st Airborne Division, as well as the 29th Panzer Division and the 15th Panzer Division, which have just arrived southwest of Mount Etna for deployment, are now facing our 13th Army and the paratroopers of the 1st Airborne Brigade! ”

The combat staff officer continued to report.

"What! Laugh at me! How could the Germans have so many forces concentrated on our front! Didn't you just say that Patton's side was engaged in a fierce battle with the Germans? ”

Hearing this, Montgomery suddenly felt bad, his eyes widened in surprise, and he shouted.

"Yes! General Patton's troops are now engaged in a fierce battle with the Germans! ”

The operations staff officer replied uneasily.

"In that case, then why was the Germans able to send so many troops against us? Didn't our intelligence system say that there were only two German mechanics in the whole of Sicily? Why are there so many German troops all of a sudden? ”

Montgomery was puzzled and shocked.

"Because the German army that General Patton is fighting against is Hitler's most elite SS army!"

The combat staff officer replied in a panic.

"SS! How did Hitler's SS come here, when did they get here, and how many troops did they come! ”

After hearing this, Montgomery was not calm at all, but screamed in panic.

"We are still communicating and communicating with the intelligence officers on General Patton's side, and this matter has now been reported to Commander Eisenhower!"

The operational staff officer replied.

"Get me to find out, I want to know as soon as possible how many SS troops are fighting Patton's troops!"

Montgomery's eyes widened and he shouted in panic.